Living in Parashioth Bereshith & Noach 5776: R' Ephraim Sprecher

30 Tishrei 5776
Rosh Hodesh Alef Heshvan


For a few hours this morning until early afternoon, while it was still 29 Tishrei, I attended R' Sprecher's class once again with my husband and the guys - my last opportunity for a while. This time I audio-recorded a study filled with marvelous hiddushim (revelations based on text within the written Torah) and commentary. Some of the highlights:

• How are angels created and what role do they play? You make the call!
• What does Qayin (Cain)'s grandson Lemech's speech to his wives Ada and Zillah, almost 6,000 years ago, have to do with today?
• The deeper meaning of the name Hava and her real mission (easily applicable to this blog)! 
• What did the movie Ghost get right about death and dying?
• R' Sprecher discusses an event that came before the current wave of intifada-style terrorism in Israel...let's just say he believes it isn't a coincidence.
• And much, much more!

Enjoy! Hodesh tov!

Living in Parashioth Bereshith and Noach 5776 (2h:05m)

More reading:
The Month of Heshvan according to the Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Formation) | Parashat Bereshith message from the Hozeh (Seer) Nir ben Artzi, shlit"a | The Noose Around Israel's Neck | Saving Ourselves from Gog | Syrian Powder Keg | Annexation or Sovereignty: Winning Israel's Word War

Four-Legged Snake Fossil Found. But, Did It Tempt Eve?

11 Menachem Av 5775

It looks like the question of the serpent in the Garden of Eden may be solved, finally, outside the Jewish world. Jonathan Webb, science reporter at BBC News, has the story, published last Friday:

A 113-million-year-old fossil from Brazil is the first four-legged snake that scientists have ever seen. 

Some inquiring minds will want to know whether this snake, or one like it, tempted Eve (Hava haRishona, namesake of this blog). It reminds me of what Rashi says about the nahash in Bereshith (Genesis) 3:14. First, the verse:

יד וַיֹּאמֶר יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהִים | אֶל הַנָּחָשׁ כִּי עָשִׂיתָ זֹּאת אָרוּר אַתָּה מִכָּל הַבְּהֵמָה וּמִכֹּל חַיַּת הַשָּׂדֶה עַל גְּחֹנְךָ תֵלֵךְ וְעָפָר תֹּאכַל כָּל יְמֵי חַיֶּיךָ:

 14 And the Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed be you more than all the cattle and more than all the beasts of the field; you shall walk on your belly, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.

Now, the salient part: 

 על גחונך תלך: רגלים היו לו ונקצצו:

you shall walk on your belly: It had legs, but they were cut off. — [from Gen. Rabbah 20:5] 
[Source of all Hebrew and English (small type), including translation]

Now, Rashi lived in the 11th C. CE...and I find it funny to think that now we've finally caught up with him and seen with our own eyes (I don't take pictures from the sites I cite; you'll have to go there) that there is such a thing as a snake with legs. I'm not saying that these are the bones of the ophidian body the crafty one used to tempt Hava haRishona; however, they'll have to find at least one more skeleton like that to convince me that they're not.

Fair enough? 

Someone must have been praying for me...thank you.

20 Tammuz 5775

I had responded to a fellow commenter on Reb Dov Bar Leib's End of Days blog concerning my idea for my own blog, and even given out its name, which I'd had in my head for probably the last 5 years or so. That is a long time to hesitate; but I realized that because I had revealed my idea, anyone who stopped by and read it might be able to take it before I did. I understand that this is not necessarily the best of motives, but there it is. We'll see how it goes from here.

I want to thank anyone who took the time to think of me in positive terms in relation to having my own forum. Here is its story:

Most Jews in the know refer to Hava haRishona, the First Eve, wife of Adam haRishon, the First Adam. Most people understand who Eve was, and her co-starring (or starring, depending on who you're speaking with) role in how the world came to be the way it is now.

Because by all accounts and all Jewish religious authorities (just Google them!) we are nearly at the end of the End of Days, there has to be a Last Eve, or Hava haAharona. She is not me; she is far more learned, smarter and discerning than I; however, neither of us are prophetesses (there are 7 of them in the Tana"ch). Her mission in life is to do her best to correct the mistake of Hava haRishona by clarifiying things, separating good from evil as kindly as possible (with the caveat that, sometimes, kindness will not be possible). I pray and hope that my writing will help her do her job.